8 December 2010

Strömstad Church and Cemetery, Sweden (Part II)

I have been many times to Strömstad in Sweden, which is only a ferry away from my hometown Sandefjord and is also close to the Norwegian boarder if I should decide to take the E6 instead. In october 2006 I paid Strömstad Church and Cemetery a short visit, but took only one photo of the cemetery and not of the church. During a visit in August 2010, I thought it was on time to pay another visit to take more photos.

You can also see the church from an another angle at Liv Ofsdal's blog. The cemetery is an interesting place to visit, as most of the graves are protected by law.

I didn't spend that much time at the cemetery, but obviously long enough to get a parking ticket! Included in the "parkeringsanmärkning" was also the message "Även PU 35!". I still haven't figured what the code means, and I am not so sure if I really want to know it either. I might have to introduce ads on the blog to cover my expenses... :-) I survived the SEK 400 ticket, though.

3 comments:

This cemetery has some rather artistic tombstones. It is nice to see a variety. I am curious: what does "most of the graves are protected by law" mean? Also, thank you for your photos. My family thinks it strange that I find cemeteries interesting!

You can pay for a lot for a certain period. If you then choose not to renew it, the grave will be "deleted" and reused. But as I understand it many of the graves I photographed at Strömstad Cemetery were quite old and thus seemed to be protected - in other words they will not be deleted regardless of the lease having expired or not. I am sorry that I don't have all the right legal expressions right now, couldn't find a translation of the Norwegian act concerning burials (gravferdsloven), or a translation of the equivalent Swedish law for that matter. I will try to write more about Scandinavian burial practice later. The Swedish begravningslag seem to say (Chapter 7, article 5) that the "burial right" is for at least 15 years and up to 50 years "or for ever". I don't know when the right comes into the latter category. The Norwegian law is a bit different, and I will - as said above - get back to this later. The Norwegian gravferdslov will probably be changed next year.

Very interesting! I had heard about leased plots in other parts of Europe, but did not know this was also the case in Norway. In the US, plots are purchased. It has made my US genealogical research a bit easier. The European research has been more challenging.

This blog is written by Dag T. Hoelseth, a Norwegian historian specialising in royal history.
I have a Cand.philol. degree in history from the University of Oslo and graduated in 1997 with the dissertation Det nasjonale kongedømme. Det norske monarkiet 1905-1910, which dealt with the royal election in Norway 1905 and how the new dynasty "became Norwegian".
I am the author of Historisk utredning om Kongehuset, dets apanasjer og disponible statseiendommer, which was published on behalf of the Palace Committee in 2001. The report focused among others on the history of the Norwegian civil list from 1905 to the 1970s as well as the properties the king of Norway has to his disposal.
I have made contributions to several antologies and also written articles for various publications. More often I have operated "behind the scene", consulting newspapers etc. with background information.
Among my other interests are genealogy, Norwegian-American emigration history, US presidential history, traveling, football and ice hockey.